"I don't see how you can remember which valve is which and what all of
the gauges mean," said Tim.
"It does take a couple of months to get the hang of all of them,"
admitted Pat, "but in a fully manned navy submarine each man is trained
for his own task. The successful operation depends upon each one doing
his job at just the right time. If someone forgets, then the story
makes the front page and the navy goes hunting for another lost
submarine."
Tim felt an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his stomach. He knew
the _S-18_ was going to be undermanned, but then the only diving they
intended to do would be at the actual scene of the salvage operations.
"This torpedo compartment will be made into a diving room," went on
Pat. "A special bulkhead will be built to reinforce the regular one and
a door cut in the side of the hull through which the diver can walk
when we settle down on the bottom beside the Southern Queen. If we find
the treasure it can be placed directly in this special room, the diver
can climb in after, and up we'll go."
The description sounded simple enough but Tim had misgivings that the
actual operation might be a little more complicated.
They left the forward torpedo room and started back to the control
room. In the former crew's quarters, Pat tapped the steel deck.
"The storage batteries which operate the electric motors are under
here. It's just too bad for us if water gets to them while we're down
in the bottom. Then there's chlorine gas and unless we get up in a
hurry, the party's over."
"You're certainly painting a cheerful picture of this trip," said Tim.
"I'm making it just as bad as I can," grinned Pat, "but you don't seem
to scare much."
"It's a good thing you can't see how fast my pulse is running. Just one
more thing I want to know right now. Where do we eat aboard this tin
fish?"
"A newspaper reporter would think of that," chuckled Pat, "As a matter
of fact the galley will be installed in the rear torpedo room. The
entire crew will eat and sleep there and rations won't be anything
fancy."
A watchman at the shipyard boarded the _S-18_ and informed Tim that Mr.
Ford wanted to talk to him by telephone.
Tim hastened out of the submarine and followed the watchman to his
shanty near the main gate of the big yard.
"I'm at the office of the Sea King Airplane Company on Lower Broadway,"
said Ford. "Come over as soon as possible and we'll make the final
decision on the type of plane we're going to take with us."
Tim promised to get across the river as rapidly as possible and ran
back to the _S-18_. Shouting down the main hatch, he informed Pat that
he was leaving. Then he hastened outside, flagged a cruising taxi, and
sped toward the office of the airplane company.
The head of the expedition was waiting for him in the main show room,
where several seaplanes were on display. He introduced Tim to the
company's sales manager and they plunged into a discussion of detail.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account